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The Discovery of Global Warming: Revised and Expanded Edition (New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine) Paperback – October 31, 2008

by Spencer R. Weart (Author)

61

Part of: New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine (8 books)

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The award-winning book is now revised and expanded.

In 2001 an international panel of distinguished climate scientists announced that the world was warming at a rate without precedent during at least the last ten millennia, and that warming was caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases from human activity. The story of how scientists reached that conclusion―by way of unexpected twists and turns―was the story Spencer Weart told in The Discovery of Global Warming. Now he brings his award-winning account up to date, revised throughout to reflect the latest science and with a new conclusion that shows how the scientific consensus caught fire among the general world public, and how a new understanding of the human meaning of climate change spurred individuals and governments to action.

Part of series

New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard University Press
Publication date

October 31, 2008
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

067403189X
ISBN-13

978-0674031890
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Charting the evolution and confirmation of the theory [of global warming], Weart dissects the interwoven threads of research and reveals the political and societal subtexts that colored scientists’ views and the public reception their work received.”―Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times Book Review

From the Back Cover

A Capricious Beast Ever since the days when he had trudged around fossil lake basins in Nevada for his doctoral thesis, Wally Broecker had been interested in sudden climate shifts. The reported sudden jumps of CO2 in Greenland ice cores stimulated him to put this interest into conjunction with his oceanographic interests. The result was a surprising and important calculation. The key was what Broecker later described as a "great conveyor belt'"of seawater carrying heat northward. . . . The energy carried to the neighborhood of Iceland was "staggering," Broecker realized, nearly a third as much as the Sun sheds upon the entire North Atlantic. If something were to shut down the conveyor, climate would change across much of the Northern Hemisphere... There was reason to believe a shutdown could happen swiftly. In many regions the consequences for climate would be spectacular. Broecker was foremost in taking this disagreeable news to the public. In 1987 he wrote that we had been treating the greenhouse effect as a 'cocktail hour curiosity, ' but now 'we must view it as a threat to human beings and wildlife.' The climate system was a capricious beast, he said, and we were poking it with a sharp stick.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; 2nd edition (October 31, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 067403189X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674031890
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #972 in Climatology
- #2,313 in Environmental Science (Books)
- #2,527 in Environmentalism

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J & A

Great for someone trying to understand how science works

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2009

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This book talks about the history of the discovery of global warming. It starts from the early attempts to understand the ice ages, and reveals how scientists work by learning from their mistakes and revising their theories. I would recommend this book not only for those interested in the scientific history of climate change, but also for those interested in how scientists find out about the world we live in. Of course, as we can see from some reviewers, not everybody like the what scientists uncover.

I'm a scientist, and I use this book in a course that teaches different approaches to complex problems. Climate science is one heck of a complex problem, and the history of its science presents a fascinating introduction to how interdisciplinarity is necessary in some cases. Most of my students, many of whom are science phobic, enjoy the book and find it eye opening.

Pros: Really well written, accessible, easy to follow, and tells a fascinating history.
Cons: It may be a little dry to someone not that interested in science.
Bottom line: great intro to climate change science history.

12 people found this helpful

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SEONGJAE KIM

[book review] The Discovery of Global Warming

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024

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"Just what would global warming mean for people?" (177) This is perhaps one of the most critical questions of this century. There are many effects and causes of global warming, but, rising sea levels will lead to hundreds of millions of people losing their homes and land for farming. Insurance companies will also suffer significant losses due to more frequent natural disasters. However, many political and corporate parties are not interested in addressing global warming because they benefit from it. Spencer R. Weart, the author of The Discovery of Global Warming, presents various evidence, effects, and obstacles to solving global warming and how to solve it through economic incentives, public awareness, and technologies.

Global warming is real and is backed by various scientific evidence. Ice core samples show that recent global warming has been unparalleled for thousands of years. A graph in the 2001 IPCC report depicts a significant increase in temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, with 1998 being the warmest year of the millennium. Although there is some range of uncertainty, a graph of the reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere temperatures for the past millennium shows that the temperature anomaly has increased since the Industrial Revolution, naming it the "hockey stick graph" due to its rapidly increasing shape.

Weart’s Discovery draws upon extensive scientific research that demonstrates global warming is real and potentially catastrophic, and argues that direct human impact can be worse. In 2003, a heat wave surpassing anything in the historical record struck Europe … probably intensified by global warming. Nobody had foreseen that the elderly could not save themselves when the traditional August vacation emptied the cities; tens of thousands died (184). The whole ecosystem suffered from the unprecedented heat. Trees become more vulnerable to pests and wildfires. Economic effects can be equally devastating. Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans is also thought to be strengthened by global warming. Such disasters affect businesses. Especially, insurance-related businesses were among the first businesses to shift their stance on climate change because it directly affects them. “In the early 1990s, many insurance companies suffered huge losses as storms and floods increased, much as global warming theorists had predicted. The world's second-largest reinsurance corporation, Swiss Re, warned that companies could be vulnerable to lawsuits if they didn't pay attention to their emissions” (179-180). More and stronger natural disasters caused by global warming might force people to become environmental refugees. “If emissions continue to climb unchecked, the average temperature might climb a devastating 5.8°C (10°F)” (178). It will affect not only the daily lives of people but also corporations. It can be catastrophic because “The last time the planet was 3°C warmer, the sea level had been roughly 5 meters higher, submerging coastlines where hundreds of millions of people now live” (179). Moreover, more than ninety percent of the world’s mountain glaciers are shrinking, putting water supplies that are crucial for agriculture and the lives of the world at risk. Other examples include “the squalid ruin of the world’s mountain meadows, coastal wetlands, and coral reefs, the spread of tropical diseases to new locales, the press of millions of starving refugees from drought and seacoast flooding, perhaps entire nations driven to aggression or despair” (187). Furthermore, the feedback loop of global warming is the problem. When it's hotter, it tends to get even hotter faster. In just one such feedback loop. “A decrease of Arctic snow cover and sea ice was making for more absorption of summer sunlight. The oceans, too, were getting less efficient at taking up CO2 as the water grew warmer and more acidic. Some forests that used to absorb carbon were drying out and burning instead” (192).

But why can’t we solve the problem? There are various reasons, including politics, corporations, media, and public interests. Industry evidence was visible, for instance, “When George W. Bush became president, lobbying by his friends in the energy industries persuaded him to throw aside his campaign pledge to restrain greenhouse gases. Moreover, he publicly renounced the Kyoto Protocol” (179). Even though serious consequences are expected if global warming continues, some countries are not trying hard enough to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Perhaps it’s because of the media. “A survey that compared US newspapers with ones in New Zealand and Finland concluded that ‘the US’s media states that global warming is controversial and theoretical, yet the other two countries portray the story that is commonly found in the international scientific journals” (180). Also, Weart points out that “Professional science journalists struggled to find accurate but interesting ways to explain the latest scientific reports … glaciers dropped icebergs into the sea, Pacific islanders and Alaskan seal hunters complained about threats to their ways of life, polar bears struggled to survive as ice floes melted. All that lay far from the lives of most citizens” (187).

Considering these challenges of dealing with climate change, Weart ultimately contends that government-based top-down solutions are essential. First, to undo the pattern where “The world’s governments were still subsidizing global warming, devoting far more money to supporting the use of fossil field than to developing alternative sources of energy” (195). Second, to scale up the effort to reduce climate change in a world where an influential study regarding climate change calculates that preventing it would cost about 1% of GDP but if we don’t, it will cost about 5% of GDP which could be comparable to even the Second World War (195). Furthermore, we can think of some solutions. First, when new politicians are elected and they can totally flip the policies about climate change, we better make long-term political roles that deal with climate change. Second, the media should highlight more real-life effects of climate change instead of things far from most people’s lives like melting glaciers and struggling polar bears. For example, highlighting heatwaves and the potential increase of diseases spread, etc instead of showing planet-scale climate change-related statistics that can be hard to grasp for most people. Furthermore, the media should not only point out that climate change is a problem and it’s getting worse, it should suggest the bottom-up solution we can do in real life right now. Showing how to improve home energy efficiency via media can be a very good option because most people are very willing to save money on utility.

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not me

The Birth of a New Science

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2013

Verified Purchase

Conservative pundit George Will doesn't believe that humans are causing global warming. He often tries to discredit climate science by scoffing at the way a few climate scientists in the 1970s predicted that the world was heading toward a new ice age. Will has no scientific training and his argument is bizarre -- basically, he's contending that science can't be trusted because science does course-corrections and develops over time. However, anyone wanting to put Will's statement into historical context should read "The Discovery of Global Warming," which explains where climate science came from, where it is now, and how it has shaped our view of global warming.

As the book shows, serious climate science is only about 50 years old. Before then, scientists lacked even basic data about the climate and had no models to show how the climate behaved over time. Things are different now. Climate science draws on many disciplines -- from oceanography to solar physics -- and has developed robust climate models. These do a good job of reproducing past changes in global temperatures -- and they warn us to be worried about the future if we don't get our act together soon.

"The Discovery of Global Warming" tells this fascinating story. It is short and clearly written. I took away four main points:

-- the climate is more complicated and less stable (because of positive feedback loops) than anyone imagined prior to the 1970s;

-- climate science (like any science) has developed tentatively and unevenly, with many false starts (especially in its early years), as theories were refined or rejected in the light of new findings and better climate models;

-- the world has been heating up rapidly for several decades and will continue to do so in the 21st century if we don't get greenhouse gas emissions under control; and

-- business interests that profit from the production of greenhouse gases have funded huge campaigns to spread bogus doubts about global warming and to defeat efforts at regulation.

Which brings us back to Will and his ilk. As climate science has matured, it has discarded mistaken theories. These included early beliefs that the oceans would absorb our surplus CO2 and that air pollution might tip the world into an ice age. Although error-discovery and self-correction are signs of a real science, polemicists like Will (whose wife is a business lobbyist and Republican operative) can always cherrypick the history of climate science and use it to impugn the entire field. Fortunately, fewer and fewer people (and virtually no non-Americans) listen to them anymore. I wonder if Will refuses to see doctors because they used to believe in humors.

I took off one star mainly because "The Discovery of Global Warming" has almost no actual climate science in it. The reader learns about the history of research projects and international conferences, about diplomatic agreements and political controversy, about the rise of the environmental movement and the backlash from business groups, and much more. But the book has astonishingly little information about the actual chemistry and physics of the atmosphere! This is a strange omission in an otherwise excellent book.

10 people found this helpful

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Mr. Stripey

Informative history of science, atmospheric science, and climate change science

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2023

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A nice review of how our understanding of global warming has emerged, dating back to Joseph Fourier in the 1800s and his description of the 'greenhouse effect.' Weart looks at how scientists have built up understanding since then. This long historical perspective is useful, as is the link to wider political contexts, and the ongoing lack of political will to do anything to challenge the fossil fuel economy.

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Thomas Zapf-Schramm

Hochinteressantes Buch

Reviewed in Germany on September 21, 2021

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Zeigt in fesselnder Weise den. „Entdeckungsprozess“ der komplexen und chaotischen Abläufe des Klimawandels. Das Buch zeigt wie reale Wissenschaft arbeitet und welche scheinbar vollkommen problemfernen Faktoren den Forschungsprozess beeinflussen. Es. wird sichtbar, das der heutige Erkenntnisstand oft auf verschlungenen Wegen in einer vielstimmigen Debatte gefunden wurde. Man lernt, dass ein einfaches „Follow THE science“ doch ein bisschen denkfaul ist.

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Alan

Excellent Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2011

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I don't normally bother to write reviews but this little book was excellent. Would recommend it to anyone with an interest in learning more about climate change.

4 people found this helpful

Jean-Christophe Gauthier

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on October 9, 2016

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Interesting book.

Margaret Steele

The recognition of climate change

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2016

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Very informative but you should also read 'The Invention of Nature.'

Joseph Haughey

Insightful but feels longer than it is

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2021

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I found this book very insightful in that it provides a clear timeline of the discoveries made by the scientists involved and how they conducted their research in their respective fields but I also found it quite a slog to read.
The book itself is quite slim, maybe 200 or so pages but feels much longer as the writing isn't particularly engaging. I also felt like we never really understand whether the earth is going to cool down or heat up as the argument seems to flip flop the entire time, which I suppose is what the case was at the time, however I would have preferred a little more clarity as it became quite confusing for me (I'm not by any means a climate change expert). I think maybe a little end note to distinguish the differences to what they had discovered and thought based on their models or evidence etc. And what we know to be the case today may have been helpful for people like myself trying to learn a bit about climate change.
All in all it's nice to see the process of where it all started through to the present day, I will read more on the subject now that I've read this book.

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